Florida Department of Environmental Protection Adoption of Suwannee River Water Management District MFLs

The Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee Rivers and Priority Springs are water bodies that have the potential to be affected by withdrawals in an adjacent WMD for which the DEP adoption of a reservation or MFL is appropriate pursuant to s. 373.042(2), F.S.

In June 2013, the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) Governing Board requested that DEP adopt MFLs it proposed for the Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee Rivers and Priority Springs. The decision was based on the technical work conducted for the proposed MFLs by SRWMD staff, and the potential for cross-basin impacts originating outside of the SRWMD. SRWMD staff had also assessed the streamflows observed in the recent historical record and recent trends in the flow regime, and determined that a recovery strategy was required.

The Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee Rivers and Priority Springs MFLs were adopted by DEP since withdrawals outside of the Suwannee River Water Management District's boundaries have the potential to be affected by withdrawals in an adjacent WMD. DEP's proposed rule was ratified by the Legislature (HB 7081) and signed into law by Governor Scott with an effective date of June 10, 2015 (Chapter 2015-128, Laws of Florida). For more information on DEP's Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee Rivers and Priority Springs MFL rule, please visit their rulemaking webpage.

Please note: Some files linked from this page will take a long time to download, especially with slower Internet connections such as dial-up.

FINAL REPORT

The FINAL technical report for the Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee Rivers and Priority Springs MFL is available for download. The report file size has been compressed for shorter download times. While the resolution should be adequate for online reading, please be aware that the quality of portions such as figures, may be reduced. A higher resolution file of the document may be obtained upon request.

The SRWMD uses river simulation modeling to better understand how our rivers behave and to interpolate water level and flow information at locations distant from long-term gauges.

The tool used for this purpose is the Hydrologic Engineering Centers River Analysis System (HEC- RAS). HEC-RAS allows the performance of one-dimensional steady flow, unsteady flow, sediment transport/mobile bed computations, and water temperature modeling. The general model code is available from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at http://www.hec.usace.army.mil/software/hec-ras/.

The general model code is applied locally using site-specific information on bathymetry and river conditions. The resulting models for specific rivers are available from the District as they are developed. The models used by the SRWMD for minimum flows and levels contain additional flow, stage, and survey data, as opposed to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) HEC-RAS models, which are designed for flood study purposes only.

The SRWMD prepares and uses this information for its own purposes and this information may not be suitable for other purposes. This information is provided as is. Any use of trade, product, or firm names in this publication is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the SRWMD. Although the computer program has been used by the SRWMD, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the SRWMD as to the accuracy and functionality of the program and related program material. Nor shall the fact of distribution constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the SRWMD in connection therewith.

The SRWMD contracted with the University of Florida Water Institute to conduct a voluntary, independent scientific Peer Review for the Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee Rivers and Priority Springs MFLs. Emails and other documentation are available online from the Lower Santa Fe Peer Review folder in our Document Center.

The voluntary, independent scientific Peer Review was given significant weight in developing the Final Minimum Flows and Levels Report for the Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee Rivers and Priority Springs. Additionally, public comments were considered during Final Report development. The Resolution Document, linked below, contains the submitted public and peer review comments with the District's response. The comments are organized by group in order to create efficiency in the District responses.